🚀 go-pugleaf

Indeed. As I replied in email to Mr Joly (when I thought his article was a
private letter), somehow Africans managed to get Jeeps, and parts, and fuel, 
etc., when they realized how useful they were. As soon as they realize how
useful this is, they will find a way.

Besides, in a world whrere barter is still commonplace, and women do much of the
work *we* think of as "man's work", the concept of $100 is nothing like it is in
a culture where money is the *only* medium of exchange....

As an aside:
My favorite SysOp started her BBS five years ago on a Commodore-64. She was a

mere data-entry clerk, with NO technical experience. Since then she has  
expanded her board into one of the most popular in our 1 million-person metro
area, and learned how to build computers out of spare and used and re-condition-
ed parts (because she still can't afford a NEW one the size she needs). Last
weekend she installed a second hard-drive with a little help from a user, to
handle the expected traffic she will be getting as a Fidonet node.

She offers all this service absolutely free...(although we have all chipped in
money, spares, or barter when a modem  has "died" or some such minor disaster).
She does it because she enjoys knowing all of us, and doing something useful
for others. She also arranges two or three local parties a year so we can meet
each other if we wish. One of her users is blind, by the way. I'm sure lots of
people told the blind user she couldn't do this either...

My friend isn't a technician, a businessman, an academic, or a student. She 
isn't even slightly rich (by US or European standards) in fact, she may have to
move because her landlady is raising her rent. According to a lot of you, she
can't exist...

Yet I'm sure there are people of roughly analogous character all over, as long
as no one tells them what they're doing is "impossible" they'll just do it...
as soon as they see a motivation that makes sense in *their* context.

Suze
trifid@agora.rain.com